Solo Clear Chapter 9

As time pa.s.sed, the dead bodies that were in the training ground were enveloped by a bluish light and soon disappeared.
But the blood didn't disappear. Instead, it trickled down to the floor and left its mark.
The next thing the survivors did was call the manager.
Unlike before, the manager didn't appear.
It was safe to a.s.sume that this was all planned out.

There were 47 remaining survivors.
Some of those survivors were standing in a circle in front of the store and started discussing about the things that could happen from now on.
Of course I didn't partic.i.p.ate.

Regarding the information they were discussing, I wasn't sure how it was going to end.
One thing I was certain of was that, no matter what kind of decision they agreed to, they would still have to enter the stage.

"That's why I'm saying that in order to return to reality, we need to group up together until the third stage!!"
"Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound right now?"

Having a lot of survivors will only result in having that many opinions.
I don't think I needed to mention how difficult it was to come to a decision that everyone can agree on.

"24, 25."

There was a bit of time left until the afternoon exploration started.
Resting during this time would be a good way to spend it, but.
After seeing the dead bodies a while ago, I don't think I'll be able to sleep comfortably.
I decided to exercise to attempt to raise my skills and to also forget about the dead bodies that I saw.

"One point in power has been increased due to your well-trained body."
"One point in stamina has been increased due to your well-trained body."

Power: 11 Stamina: 13 Agility 17 Mana: 7 Luck: 4
You will be rewarded for your efforts.
The more I exercised, the more my skills increased.

"Excuse me, are you busy?"

The person that came up to me was Oh Hana.
After our last conversation, we haven't seen each other once.
It seemed like it happened long ago, but in reality, it happened yesterday.
That's probably why there was some awkwardness between us.

"Is it okay for you to be here? I'm sure I've been blacklisted by your leader."
"It doesn't matter. I'm not planning on listening to him anymore."

Last night, while others were fast asleep, Oh Hana wasn't able to go to sleep.
It was because every time she tried to close her eyes, she would remember what that guy said earlier.
She won't survive long if she continued staying with a guy like Han Ji Suk.
After contemplating for about half of the day, she made her decision.

"How did you get those injuries?"
"I went by myself during the morning exploration."

I was able to somewhat relate with her after hearing her answer calmly.
For a girl to enter the stage alone was a dangerous move.
I couldn't help but be surprised after she told me she went exploring by herself and managed to survive.
I'm sure she's aware that she could've been killed.

"I want to make a deal with you."
"A deal? It seems like you acquired something."
"It's this."

The item she took out from her inventory was a map.
It was the exact item that I was trying so hard to get.

"In this map, there's a total of eight entrances that we can enter through the portal and it also shows the entire mine by showing the roads that's connected to each one."
"Are you trying to sell it to me?"

I'm sure she knew how efficient it is to have a map of the stage.
To think that she would deal to sell this to me.
This girl…

"Did you know that Kim Byung Chul's group and ours secretly met last night?"
"…Yes."
It was weird not to.
Kim Byung Chul was happily talking about the Grimoire behind me.
Seeing her expression, it seems like the discussion regarding the Grimoire didn't end so well.

"They requested 4,000 Geny. Honestly, it wasn't very expensive. But…under the condition that the guys or Seul Ki helps them."
"I guess they didn't want to help."
"Yeah, I thought Ji Suk would at least help me. Since he was the one that told me to choose the staff."

I might understand if it was someone else, but I didn't think the leader himself would coldly ignore it.
Even if she decided to stay with him, it seemed like she'll end up being used and thrown away.
Is this what it felt like to be stabbed in the back?

"So, how much are you asking for this map?"
"5,000 Geny."

Asking for 5,000 Geny for a map was definitely a steal.
Without thinking much about it, I handed 5,000 Geny to her.

"I can barely afford this!!"
"Anyways, how did you manage to acquire this?"
"With the money I had left, I bought three bombs that was worth 500 Geny. Its destructive power was amazing. If you throw it right, you'll be able to get rid of four, maybe of the monsters."

There's a chance that a bomb may destroy the mine itself, so it wasn't something I could easily agree to.
It wasn't about whether you make a mistake or not.
The heavens decides whether you get pulled into the attack or not.
It was like walking on thin ice.

"Don't use that method next time."
"I knew it was a dumb move. But, when I was in there…that was the best thing I could come up with."

I thought she would've given up, but she stood her ground and strongly kept pus.h.i.+ng herself.
With the possibility that she might start working alone, I cheered her on intenally.

"Then it's been decided."

Meanwhile, the group that was gathered in front of the store seemed to have come up with a plan regarding the survivor that was murdered earlier.
There were three people in the middle shaking hands and the people around them started clapping.

"Hey, manager, are you there?"

The oldest man of the three, who seemed to be in his 50's, raised his hand.

"I'm here, but I won't answer any questions regarding the survivors that were murdered."
"It's not about that. I want to make a suggestion regarding the new system. I remember you saying that if it was fair, you would agree to it."
"I did say that."
"Then let me make a suggestion. It's about clans. I'm talking about a group where people work together to survive this place."
"That was something I've been thinking about as well. It's good timing. Very well, I will fulfill your suggestion."

Just then, a piece of parchment was added to all the survivors' inventory.
It was an application for creating a clan.

"In that parchment, you'll be able to create a clan and also register into a clan. Please separate the application by whether you'll be creating a clan or joining one."

The first page was an application to create a new clan and also included related topics.
The second page was an application to join an existing clan and required information to join.
However, since there weren't any existing clans, the top portion was completely blank.
For a solo player like me, I didn't need it so it was just trash to me.
But, whenever something happens, if Kang Jin Woo's name was involved, I wanted to avoid it.
So, I was thinking about making a clan where only one person is the member.

"The My Way clan has been officially registered."

My Way.

It meant they'll do whatever they wanted.
With this, just like yesterday, a statistics chart appeared, but instead of displaying a member's name, they displayed the clan's name.
And more clans started forming.
Among them, in terms of size, there was one clan that had the highest number of members.

Survive.
It meant they were going to survive and wrote the English word in Korean.
The head of the clan was Kim Tae Min, the male in his 50's who just spoke with the manager.
And the second-in-command was none other than Han Ji Suk.
Out of the 48 survivors, over 30 people joined and when looking at the numbers, they were in the lead.

Survive was created based on a simple reason.
The two survivors that died today were solo players.
If players stayed together, then they wouldn't experience the same unfortunate event, and that's how they created Survive.
They created a policy to gather all the items and money and to disperse it evenly.
The head and the second-in-command weren't excluded from this.
By having a lot of members, they're able to split up into teams and explore the stage.
Clans are formed because it's a lot safer to explore as a group than alone.
But, despite of joining in on the discussion, the ones that were skeptical created their own clans.

Kim Byung Chul, who was also part of the Deeply Wounded Guys, was one of them.
Everyone's goal was to survive.
They all had different plans on how to survive, so dispersing amongst themselves, they formed clans.
After this was done, it was time for the survivors to partic.i.p.ate in their first exploration.

Sigh.

After looking at the map, I was able to a.s.sume that entered the third entrance.
Problem was that the road started twisting.
The mine, which was the first stage, didn't have the reset function.
Because of that, whatever the other survivors did within the mine, it remained the same way.

"It's blocked here too."

There were many blocked roads.
It was only the second day and I've already encountered three blocked roads.
I drew an X on the map and sadly shook my head.
The secret room that was mentioned in the guidebook was located in the plaza that can be found when walking from the eighth entrance.
The third and the eighth entrance were in totally opposite directions.
Even the map showed that they were located far from each other.
There was a limit to how many times a person can enter the stage, so if someone enters and then leaves, their chance of exploring within that time frame is gone.
Because of this, it was impossible for me to continuously enter the portal until I end up in the entrance that I wanted.

"Jeez, this is really tiring."

I heard something up ahead.
I quickly hid myself behind the wall.

"Did you hear? One of the supervisor that had the map died."
"The boss is seriously p.i.s.sed off. I think they're going to strengthen the security starting tomorrow."
"They should. Recently, a bunch of humans been entering this. I hope the hired soldier agency sends some really strong guys."
"There's no way a cheap boss like him would do that."

The Cobalts pa.s.sed by without noticing me.
Avoiding combat as much as I can was the best.
I still had a long way to go so I didn't want to waste my energy.
As I was carefully walking step by step.

"…Gah. Grr."

I heard someone moaning from somewhere.
It was near here.
A person? It could be a Cobalt that was on the brink of death due to the survivors.
I could've just ignored it.

"…I think I'll get nightmares."

I would've felt bad if I did that, so I changed my mind and decided to check it.
I couldn't waste time, but someone could be needing my help.

"Ah…cough."

I still heard the sound, but I knew the voice was getting weaker and weaker.
Thinking that they could be running out of time, I increased my speed.
As soon as I turned, I would be able to see the source of the moan.

Gasp!!

I froze in place after seeing the body on the floor.
It felt like my mind was going blank.
It's because I talked to them couple of hours ago…
I wasn't sure how to take in the situation that was laid out in front of me.

"…Oh Hana."

Coughing up blood in front of me, she was slowly dying.

staff :
Jen (TL)
Uptime (PR)